Scotland: Cranachan Cake

I must admit the first thought that ran through my head when trying to design a Scottish cake was ‘How on earth am I going to combine haggis and deep-fried Mars bars into a cake people would actually want to eat?’ After a few minutes of panic I settled down, and remembered that actually Scotland has some wonderful produce which would make an excellent cake. For this cake, I decided to take inspiration from the dessert cranachan.

Cranachan is a Scottish dessert consisting of whipped cream, oats, raspberries, honey and whiskey, similar to the English dish Eton mess. My version of this dessert includes a cake made with rolled oats to add texture, soaked in scotch whiskey. This is then sandwiched with raspberry compote and topped with whipped cream. I then decorated the cake with fresh raspberries and a sprinkling of rolled oats.

This recipe also works well made into cupcakes. To achieve this, I made the cupcake mixture as described below, before removing the centre and filling with the raspberry compote. These were then topped with whipped cream and decorated again with raspberries and oats.

Cranachan Cake

Ingredients

Cake:

4oz plain flour

4oz rolled oats

3 tsp baking powder

8oz caster sugar

8oz butter

1 tsp vanilla essence

4 eggs

1/2 cup of Scotch whiskey

Raspberry Compote:

2 punnets raspberries

2 tbsp caster sugar

Whipped cream topping:

300 ml double cream

4 tbsp whiskey

Instructions

Preheat the oven to gas mark 5. Grease an 8in round springform tin and set aside.

Cream together the butter and sugar until pale and smooth. Add in the eggs, beating well after each addition. Mix together the flour, oats and baking powder. Add this to the creamed mixture, mixing well to make a smooth mixture. Add the vanilla essence and stir in until completely combined. Pour the mixture into the cake tin and smooth the top. Bake in to oven for approximately 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

When the cake comes out of the oven, use a skewer or sharp knife make small slits in the cake. Pour over the whiskey, allowing time for the liquid to sink into the cake. Leave to cool for 15 minutes before removing from the tin and allowing to cool completely. Split the cake in half horizontally ready for filling.

Make the raspberry compote by reducing down the sugar and raspberries in a small pan until the mixture is thick. Strain through a sieve to remove the seeds and taste, adding more sugar as you feel necessary. Once it is sufficiently thick (you want it to be the consistency of raspberry jam) then spread on the bottom half of the cake.

[Cheat: You could use raspberry jam instead of the compote if preferred -just ensure you choose a good brand!]

Whip up the cream, icing sugar and whiskey together for the topping, ensuring that it is really thick and creamy. Use the cream to top the cake, before decorating with fresh raspberries.